Turkey ready for peace with Assad

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) - Turkey could no longer press for a political settlement to the civil war in Syria without President Bashar al-Assad, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek said on Friday.

"Turkey can no longer insist on a settlement without Assad. It’s not realistic, so I think we just have to work with what we have and that’s where Russia, Iran, and Turkey come in in a big fashion," said Simsek to a panel on the Middle East crisis at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Simsek's remarks arguing "facts on the ground have changed" were carried live on Kurdistan24 TV.

A shift toward Assad regime has been underway in Turkish foreign policy, especially after restoring ties with Russia and realizing a need to militarily contain the US-supported Kurdish forces' gains against the Islamic State (IS) in northern Syria.

"As far as our position on Assad is concerned, we think that the suffering of Syrian people and the tragedies, clearly the blame is squarely on Assad. But we have to be pragmatic, realistic," Simsek said.

Since the beginning of the five-year-long conflict, Turkish leaders demanded a departure of Assad whom President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called a "murderer and dictator."

After the Turkish-backed opposition groups' loss of the eastern sector of the city of Aleppo to an Assad regime army supported by Russian warplanes in December 2016, a rapprochement via Moscow began.

Ankara, along with Moscow, is a broker of upcoming peace talks in Kazakhstan's capital Astana.

Editing by Ava Homa